Communities such as the Capital Regional District (CRD) of Vancouver Island (BC) currently struggle to meet the transportation needs of older adults and other vulnerable populations, particularly in terms of resources and funding. In the future, these challenges will continue given the current demographic shift and the existing structure of the transportation system. Since the provision of transportation is an important element for the quality of life of older adults, it is important to consider solutions that promote a more effective use of transportation opportunities to ensure health, self-sufficiency and community connectedness amongst this population. This research study examines one solution to the issues surrounding the provision of transportation to older adults. A Coordinated Accessible Transportation (CAT) approach supports the pooling and sharing of existing transportation resources within a formalized framework, and aims to provide safe, efficient and affordable transportation options to older adults. This research focuses on the identification of barriers and incentives to the implementation of a CAT program. This project used a qualitative, case study approach to reach its objectives. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders involved in the provision of transportation. A Program Logic Model (PLM) was used to organize and analyze the information gathered. In summary, although aware of the need for a new approach, transportation providers in the CRD are reluctant to change the current system without active governance being in place at all levels. The results of this research provide a `blueprint' for the implementation of a CAT program and have relevance for other Canadian communities facing similar challenges.

The Sumatra-Andaman tsunami, which devastated countries bordering the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, resulted in an unprecedented loss of human life and property. In Thailand, the beach resort area of Khao Lak suffered the most severe damage. The period of recovery and rebuilding following this tragedy offers ample opportunities to develop more sustainable forms of tourism, such as ecotourism. This study set out to gain an enhanced understanding of tourist markets and visitor experiences in Khao Lak one year after the tsunami. Two main tourist types, beach resort tourists and volunteer tourists, were identified after an initial period of familiarization with the site. The dominant presence of volunteer tourists in Khao Lak one year after the tsunami was a surprising finding. Motivations, trip characteristics, and demographics of tourists were collected through targeted surveys. The importance of ecotourism principles was explored in order to assess interest and potential demand for ecotourism experiences. The results show that beach resort and volunteer tourists differ significantly in several respects. Volunteers are more likely to travel to Khao Lak alone and stay for longer periods of time. Beach resort tourists tend to be older and less formally educated than volunteers. Importance-Performance Analysis was conduced on travel motivations and satisfactions. Overall, respondents were very satisfied with push and pull reasons for visiting Khao Lak, and no immediate management action is warranted. Volunteers were motivated by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Volunteers want to assist with post-tsunami recovery, but they also want to gain personal development rewards. A factor analysis was performed on the importance of 12 ecotourism principles, drawn from supporting literature. The loadings of each sample produced a 3-factor solution labeled 1) nature 2) stewardship and 3) local culture. Segmentation analysis grouped respondents into ecotourists, semi-ecotourists, and non-ecotourists. Ecotourists are respondents that relate high importance to all 3 factors. Semi-ecotourists score high in 1 or 2 factors, and non-ecotourists attach low importance to all factors. The distribution of respondents in each tourist segment does not differ between the beach resort and volunteer sample. Several motivations related to natural features and activities in the destination environment are more important to ecotourists than non-ecotourists. However, there are few differences in trip or demographic characteristics among segments. In the beach sample, non-ecotourists are less likely to have a university education than ecotourists. In the volunteer sample, ecotourists are more likely to be younger, under 35 years of age. About one third of respondents in each sample are identified as ecotourists, and just over half are semi-ecotourists. This suggests that there is strong demand for ecotourism among international visitors to Khao Lak. Established protected areas such as nearby Khao Lak-Lum Ru National Park may offer venues for future ecotourism development.

La question du caractère « mécanique » des marchés est au centre de nombreux débats en sciences sociales. Laissant de côté les discussions purement épistémologiques sur le caractère métaphorique ou analytique de la notion de « mécanisme marchand », nous proposons dans cette thèse une approche pragmatique centrée sur l'étude d'un cas concret de « mécanisation » d'un marché. Nous abordons cette problématique à travers une étude détaillée du processus d'informatisation de la Bourse de Paris : un marché où le processus de détermination des prix, réalisé traditionnellement à la criée, est désormais totalement automatisé depuis la fin des années 1980. Cette thèse apporte donc une analyse détaillée de la cotation électronique à la Bourse de Paris. L'analyse ne consiste pas en un inventaire historique des différentes innovations qui jalonnent l'évolution du dispositif marchand, ni en un examen technique de ses propriétés économiques. L'originalité de notre approche relève de son caractère sociologique, c'est-à-dire de sa capacité à dégager la nature collective, construite et différenciée des divers éléments étudiés. Plus concrètement, nous montrons que la « mise en algorithme » de ce marché concret demande des formes complexes et variées d'explicitation du mécanisme marchand (qui vont au-delà des visions élémentaires qu'en donnent souvent les sciences sociales), qu'elle requiert tout un travail d'ingénierie aussi bien technique que sociale (un marché automatisé n'en reste pas moins social), et qu'elle engage des controverses sur la justesse de la détermination des prix (en raison notamment des effets qu'une configuration algorithmique peut avoir dans la représentation collective de la valeur).

This research explores how concepts of women’s independence are constituted, through neo-liberal and feminist discourses, by members of a feminist organization for women leaving abuse. Analysis of eight interviews and eight focus groups with organizational members, collected over a four year period, surface contesting discourses about individualism, choice, economic independence, collectivity and structural analyses. These discourses interact to produce complex conceptualizations of women’s independence, and produced new subjectivities for women within the organization. In the data, neo-liberal and feminist influences produced an integration of self-responsibility and collectivity, creating new ways of understanding women’s agency. Knowledge of these changing notions of gendered independence in organizations allows feminists to be strategic and reflexive about feminist political work within changing social and political terrain.

This thesis explores the doctrine of judicial notice, particularly as it applies in the context of anti-poverty litigation. I invoke a theory of judgment which centres valid judgment on the practice of an "enlarged mentality." I argue for an interpretation of judicial notice that can assist judges to approach their task in this way. First, judicial notice should be animated by the fundamental principles of the legal system. including equality. Second, judicial notice must be attentive to the different kinds of "facts" that could be subject to notice, and the criteria for notice that are appropriate in each case. Third. judicial notice requires an active posture on behalf of judges, which finds support in legal norms about impartiality and the duty to give reasons. Finally, judicial notice requires judges to be actively attentive to the content of their own common sense.

Sharks are among the most threatened taxonomic groups worldwide. Shark tourism is viewed as a potential means of protecting threatened species, while also providing a sustainable livelihood for local communities. Whale sharks are one such species. Whale shark tourism has grown rapidly in the last twenty years. It is worth an estimated US$66 million and is available in over 15 countries worldwide. However, the management of this industry varies greatly from site to site, from little to no regulations in Thailand to license caps and interaction guidelines in Australia. Further, the long-term sustainability of whale shark tourism is dependent not only on local scale management, but also global scale issues affecting the targeted species. This study assesses the current status and future sustainability of the whale shark tourism industry on Isla Holbox, Mexico. Specific areas of focus include: (1) tourist motivations and satisfaction with the environmental and tour features offered, (2) shark tourist specialization, (3) a comprehensive assessment of the site’s sustainability using Duffus & Dearden’s (1990) Wildlife Tourism Model, and (4) an assessment of the whale sharks’ vulnerability to global scale threats (e.g. marine pollution; global climate change). Methods included a questionnaire provided to whale shark tour participants on Isla Holbox from June to September, 2008 (n=392, response rate=90%), in-water observation of human-whale shark interactions, and the application of a semi-quantitative climate change vulnerability framework. Results suggest that the industry on Holbox is reaching its tipping point if changes are not made to improve its management policies and design. Industry issues include: (1) crowding due to poor control of the industry’s growth (visitation and number of operators), (2) significant impacts on the whale shark population due to poor compliance with interaction guidelines, and (3) the inequitable distribution of benefits within the community, including significant economic leakages. The results of the vulnerability assessment to large-scale threats suggest that global climate change could have a significant impact on the size and distribution of whale shark aggregations in the future. Thus, the majority of whale shark tourism activities, which are based on whale sharks aggregating in vulnerable habitats, may be unsustainable in the long-term regardless of management approach. The type of users and format of tours on Holbox further supports an increased vulnerability to climate change. This study provides a significant contribution to understanding the sustainability of marine wildlife tourism activities targeting threatened species within critical habitats through the assessment of whale shark tourism sustainability using an integrated, multidisciplinary model that addresses both the social and biological dimensions of sustainability. It also includes the first comprehensive assessment of whale shark vulnerability to global climate change based on habitat type and its implications for whale shark tourism activities targeting this species at seasonal aggregation sites. In addition, this study also provides a greater understanding of tourist motivation and satisfaction within marine wildlife tourism, and shark tourism in particular and a first look at shark tourist specialization and its links to environmental impacts and management preferences.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-105). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

The aim of this dissertation is to make a contribution to the historiography of North American anthropology in the 1970s. Specifically, it asserts that by focussing exclusively on academic literature, the historiographical representations of materialist anthropology in this period are incomplete. Starting with the work by Sherry Ortner and William Roseberry on the development of Marxist anthropology and their analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of the political economy and structural Marxist / mode of production trends in the discipline, it then turns to the explication of two case studies, from the Canadian context in the 1970s, where these approaches confronted each other directly. In particular, it examines the application of anthropological theories to the representation of Indigenous economies in disputes about resource development projects in the Canadian North. In these two examples — a court case, Kanatewat v. James Bay Development Corporation, where the Cree of James Bay sought an injunction against the construction of a series of dams which would flood large parts of their homeland, and a tribunal, the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, where the Dene and Inuit sought to demonstrate that the construction of a massive gas pipeline would irrevocably damage the land and their societies and economies as a result — advocates for the projects adopted a political economy orientation to justify development in the regions, while those working on behalf of the Indigenous groups adopted an approach based on mode of production analyses to demonstrate the continuing vitality of Indigenous economies and social structures. More generally, I will show that the historiography of the period does not accurately reflect the relative impact of the two approaches on the wider world beyond the discipline; the conclusion includes a discussion of this problem as a problem shared by the historiography of anthropology more generally.

Waste management strategies that focus on reduction, reuse and recycling have an immediate environmental impact through diverting waste from landfills and conserving natural resources. Although recycling is practiced in many cities around the world and especially in developed countries, little attention has been paid to the challenges associated with it in small island communities. Furthermore, research has focused predominantly on waste management practices carried out by local governments and private corporations rather than by non-profit community groups. This thesis examines the assets and barriers of community-based recycling operations on Mayne and Hornby Islands in British Columbia, Canada. The study develops a methodological framework for assessing community-based recycling and utilizes qualitative research tools to achieve the research objectives. Theoretical pillars of social economy, community-building and environmental education are examined in this case study. The research purports that the community recycling groups are central to building social capital and inculcating environmental awareness on the islands as well as to contributing to the wider social economy network. Co-management partnerships between the community recycling groups and local government allow for increased local engagement and participation in resource recovery.

Tourism has the potential of leaving permanent footprints on the physical, cultural and economic environments of tourism destinations. Understanding and managing these footprints is paramount to understanding the industry, and to the successful management of the associated host-guest relationships. Research questions and objectives examine the concepts of tourism carrying capacity and tourism space to determine whether tourism development in Tofino, British Columbia has exceeded its limits of acceptable use. Data were collected through surveys directed to three stakeholder groups; local residents, tourism businesses and tourists. Data were analyzed using quantitative, qualitative and spatial means. The research found that tourism carrying capacity has not been exceeded for the business and tourist participants, but is divided within the resident stakeholder group. Perceived tourism space was similar for all participant groups, but some identified areas did not match the defined boundaries of tourism use set forth by the District of Tofino.